For those outdoor enthusiasts who look past our atmosphere, this might interest you. There is an astroid that is going to be passing by closer than our satellites. But, have no fear, as it is predicted to just pass on by us–no apocalypse warning here. A recent article by Jonathan O’Callaghan on iflscience.com posted the following:
Asteroid 2013 TX68 will swing by at a distance of between 14 million kilometers (9 million miles) and 17,000 kilometers (11,000 miles) – which is lower than the orbit of geostationary satellites. It’s pretty unlikely it’ll hit anything in orbit as it sails by, though.
The asteroid has only been tracked for a few years, which is why there is such a large range of uncertainty in the distance from Earth it will fly past, as its exact orbital parameters aren’t known. Nonetheless, astronomers have been able to essentially rule out the chance of an impact, either now or on future flybys.
Keep in mind, though, the astroid will make its rounds back by in September of 2017, but it will have a one in 250 million chance of hitting us, according to NASA, to be specific.
This is just an fyi for those who love the outdoors…..to the extreme.
(Photo credit: Elenarts/Shutterstock)
